A conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, On, Archives!, in conjunction with a Symposium on Broadcasting in the 1930s, took place July 6 to 9, 2010. Four days of keynote addresses and panels on media history and archiving went smoothly and a highly productive time was had by all. …
From the late 1970s through the 1990s, Department of Communication Arts Emeritus Professor John Fiske was one of the most influential media scholars in the world. Books such as Reading Television (co-written with John Hartley in 1978),Television Culture (1987), Understanding Popular Culture (1989), Power Plays, Power Works (1993) and Media Matters (1994) proved seminal to the developing fields of media and cultural studies. His …
Emeritus Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies David Bordwell and Department of Communication Arts Honorary Fellow Kristin Thompson are again in the spotlight of mainstream media, this time in an article by Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. The article, in the “Movies” section of the site and titled “You Can Judge a Book by Its Movie”, …
Department of Communication Arts alumni Adam Horowitz (’93) and Eddy Kitsis (’93) reflected on their rise from aspiring writers to executive producers/writers of ABC’s hit network drama Lost. Speaking to a group of about 50 Department of Communication Arts students, faculty, and staff in Vilas Hall, Horowitz and Kitsis explained how they met in their Comm …
The morning after a screening of his new independent film Harmony & Me (2009) to over 1,500 people (including Chancellor Biddy Martin) at the 12th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, director Robert Byington sat down with students from Professor JJ Murphy’s Comm Arts 466: Writing for Television & Film and Comm Arts 659: Advanced Motion Picture Production Workshop classes in Vilas …
Department of Communication Arts Media & Cultural Studies Associate Professor Jonathan Grayand Professor Michele Hilmes discussed the online popularity of the hit ABC network drama Loston Madison’s WKOW-TV 27 news. In one segment, Gray explained how Lost was perfectly timed to take advantage of emerging technologies like the Internet and digital video recording: “So much of Lost depends on people …
The Department of Communication Arts was pleased to host a special event to honor distinguished University of Wisconsin – Madison alumnus Walter Mirisch (History, ’42). Over 100 guests from the Department and campus recognized and learned about Mr. Mirisch’s many achievements. Among campus leaders in attendance were: Communication Arts Chair Sue Zaeske and Dean Sandefur …
Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker Glenn Silber (’72) recently discussed his experiences, techniques, and approach to documentary filmmaking in Professor Bill Brown’s Comm Arts 651: Advanced Video Production & Direction class. A professional producer and director in the fields of documentary and news magazine filmmaking for more than 30-years, Silber discussed his landmark film The War at Home …
Associate Professor in Rhetoric Robert Glenn Howard and his Comm Arts 610: Folklore in a Digital Age course is featured in a news article on UW-Madison’s campus news page in an article by Kiera Wiatrak titled “Restructured folklore class brings local culture to life”. The course, which is crosslisted with Folklore 560, allows students to customize their own …
Department of Communication Arts Assistant Professor in Communication Science Louise Mares was featured in the Summer 2009 issue of On Wisconsin, UW-Madison’s magazine for alumni and friends. Mares discusses her research into “prosocial” television that is actually beneficial to children in an article titled “Tele[re]vision” by UW-Madison alumnus Jenny Price (’96). “Children’s interpretations of what a show is about are very …